Oursmall piece of heavenat the seaside

CHRISTINA Zanelli is surrounded by brightly-coloured bunting, chintzy cushions and other home comforts as she takes a break from watching the waves crashing on the beach to put the kettle on to boil.

Cosy and secure inside their charming beach hut, whatever the weather, she and her six-year-old daughter Annabel love to sit here and read as they watch the world go by, after a morning spent playing on the sands.

The primary school headteacher, who is down here most days of the summer holidays from 10am until 10pm, says: “It is so peaceful down here, the sea is so close. And when the tide is high, it hits the beach huts, smashing over the top. It’s just magic, our own little piece of heaven.”

Christina is one of the lucky ones. She got her beach hut, which sits in the middle of the eye-catching row of chalets along Whitby’s beachfront, three years ago.

Rented from the council, she had her name down on the waiting list for five years, long before her daughter was born.

With more and more people clamouring for an annual let, Scarborough Borough Council closed the waiting list two years ago. But demand for huts was so great, the council has now invested £30,000 to add more.

Usually no more than 10ft square and with only the most basic of facilities, the humble British beach hut – traditional and fun and embodying everything that’s wonderful about the British seaside – is fast becoming one of the most desirable properties in the country.

Dr Kathryn Ferry, an expert on beach huts, says their appeal lies in their timelessness.

“They haven’t changed much since they were invented.

They’re basic and what you can do with them is limited,” she says.

Like Christina, most hut owners tend to personalise their chalets, decorating the inside with their own bits and bobs.

“You’ve got to have a bucket- and-spade mindset and that’s the point – it’s simple, nostalgic, charming,” says Dr Ferry.

Among the 20,000 beach hut owners in the UK are Rolling Stone Keith Richards, who has one in West Wittering, and Madness front man Suggs, who owns one in Whitstable. The Queen has owned one, as has artist Tracey Emin and author PD James. Celebrity chef Aldo Zilli and art guru Charles Saatchi are also famous beach hut fans.

In areas where they are for sale, they are often subject to feverish bidding wars, even in the current property market. On the south coast, where huts regularly sell for £60,000, one was snapped up recently for a record £170,000. Cheaper huts, priced from £5,000 to £15,000, tend to be found in colder, less touristy spots, such as Northumberland and Lincolnshire, or where local authorities forbid overnight stays and facilities are more basic.

The beach huts in Whitby aren’t for sale, but can be rented from the council for a fee of around £500 annually.

There are also weekly lets from around £25 to £90, for which there isn’t a waiting list. They are released on a “first come, first served”

basis from January.

The Whitby huts are only open from the beginning of May to the end of September, and don’t have running water or electricity. The only facilities are a fold-down table, two deckchairs and a bench, and owners aren’t allowed to sleep in them overnight.

But it’s thanks to this most basic of clapperboard creations, which started life in Victorian times as a changing room, wheeled down to the water for bathers to hide their modesty, that many ordinary families are able to afford the luxury of their own beachfront holiday.

The huts also provide a much-needed boost for council coffers. Scarborough Borough Council outdoor leisure manager Andrew Williams says of the Whitby huts: “In theory, they are only sheds, which have to be dismantled and stored away in the winter months. But when the weather is nice, they are lovely.”

There is a cafe next door and public toilets nearby.

Few people want to relinquish their annual lease once they sign up. Christina, who moved to Whitby from Lincoln eight years ago, says: “Now that we’ve got our beach hut, we’re never leaving Whitby, ever.”

Some ‘hutters’, like the Porteuses, have been here for generations. Shopworker Jenny and potash miner Stuart are here with their three children Lia, 11, Luke, eight, and Neve, six. Grandparents Margaret and Moia, both 83, first took on the chalet more than 50 years ago.

They, along with their extended family, still use it every day.

“The grandparents are usually down here from nine in the morning. They still love it, especially when all the grandchildren are here.

“It is such a safe place for the children to play. They love bodyboarding, rockpooling, crabbing and just playing on the beach. Half the children’s friends from school are down here,” says Jenny. Many of the beach hut owners are local people and everyone tends to know everyone else.

They join neighbours for glasses of wine in the evening or get together for barbecues.

“It’s like a little community,"

adds Jenny.

Teachers Cathy Hornung and Sam Wormald share a beach hut nearby with others.

“There are 12 of us in total, the kids share parents, we call it ‘the beach family’.

We’re down here all the time. We don’t go abroad – the kids love it.

“We sit here in thunderstorms watching the sea and the kids stay in the water in their wetsuits whatever the weather.”

Most of the hutters here on the front tend to be from the Whitby area, but a few have come from farther afield.

Christine Holstead, from Derbyshire, enjoys caravan holidays in Whitby and got her beach hut two years ago, after having her name down for seven years.

The family used to holiday in Cornwall, until Christine’s daughter married a Darlington lad, who introduced the family to Whitby.

“We came for the day 22 years ago and loved it.

“We have never been anywhere else since. Getting the beach hut here is the best thing we’ve ever done.”